The present invention relates generally to portable fireplaces and, more particularly, to a portable outdoor fireplace with a fire screen assembly and a handle that permits easy and ergonomically efficient transport of the fireplace.
Fixed outdoor fireplaces such as those made of brick and stone have been known and have been popular for years. Despite the popularity of these fixed fireplaces, portable fireplaces intended for outdoor use have entered the market in the past few years. Their size is small as compared to fixed fireplaces and their structures are such that they permit them to be easily moved from one location to the other. These fireplaces are found in the literature in U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 293,191 issued to Weber-Stephen Products and describes a portable outdoor fireplace. Handles are positioned on the sides of this outdoor fireplace to assist a user in moving it. They are located in an awkward location, generally along the edge of the top or bottom members of the fireplace, where they require a user to get close to the fireplace to grasp them for moving purposes.
Another outdoor fireplace is sold under the trade name "FIREPIT" by Whalen Manufacturing of Macomb, Ill., and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,980, issued in 1997. The fireplace described in this patent has a pair of wheels mounted to a pair of legs so as to render it easily movable, but it has a handle fixed to its bottom fire bowl. Like the aforementioned Weber fireplace, this handle is fixed at an awkward level where a user must bend over uncomfortably to grab hold of it to move the fireplace. The user also has to get close to the fireplace to move it.
Applicant's own fireplaces that are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,298, issued November 1998 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,788, issued October 1999, both include similar handles that are affixed to the bottom fire bowl of the fireplace. These handles are spaced close to the edge of the bottom fire bowl where the user may become exposed to the heat given off by the fireplace. The location of these and other handles in the prior art is not ergonomically efficient in that it forces a user to bend over uncomfortably in order to grab hold and move the fireplace.
The prior art therefore lacks a fireplace with a handle that is spaced apart from the fire bowl of the fireplace and which is ergonomically designed to alleviate awkward bending when utilizing the handles.